Arab Spring

The Arab Spring of 2011-2012 was largely an anti-Western, anti-Zionist movement orchestrated by the Obama administration to topple secular regimes in the Arab world. As a journalistic euphemism, it was intended to evoke reminiscences of the 1968 Prague Spring, or a peaceful demonstration against authoritarian rulers to bring about "socialism with a human face".

It was billed as an effort at democratitization in the Arab Middle East through regime change, along the lines of President George W. Bush's 2003 Iraq war without using US troops. Ultimately it ended in a bloody and humanitarian disaster and led to the rise of the Islamic State, eleven million dispossessed, in excess of 400,000 dead in Syria, and the European migrant crisis. A corollary to the plan was to build the image of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as a great world leader and statesman as Obama's successor.

The states of Libya, Yemen and others were destabilized. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton actively intervened in Syria and Libya, funnelling money and weapons to known Salafi jihadi groups. The powers that be remained in control of secular Egypt. Iran, with Western acquiescence, remained firmly on the path to becoming a nuclear power.

... the idea of an “Arab Spring” for the entire Arab world that President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and investor George Soros strongly promoted turned out to be based on a naïve idealism that instead undermined the rule of law and led to anarchy, starvation, and a refugee crisis that hurt citizens more than the dictatorships that preceded it.

Egypt

Following the resign of Hosni Mubarak as a result of the protests, Egypt was controlled by Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood from November 22, 2012 to June 3, 2013. In June 2013 he was overthrown by the military and since August 2014 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi rules the country.

Libya

2011

February 2011

The original plan was for the fighting to be over in days, with some of the weapons captured at Benghazi to be used in ending Gaddafi's resistance, and some flown to the Turkish staging area at Adana, along the Syrian border, to be used in an uprising against Assad. The singular advantage both Gaddafi and Assad hold against an internal uprising is airpower. In Western propaganda this always translates into "using aircraft against civilians." Hence the call for a no-fly zone to make it a fair fight between government forces and rebel forces.

Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, and Obama wanted cover for their actions. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (UNSC 1970) provided for an arms embargo - no weapons shipped in to either side. UNSC 1973 "authorized" a no-fly zone "by any means necessary," of course the UK, France, and US took to mean regime change, use of aggressive force, and direct arms deliveries to their jihadi rebels on the ground. The Russians didn't see it that way. The betrayal of assurance Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave to get Russia to withhold its veto on the UN Security Council marked a turning point in relations. Russia did not assent to NATO's use of aggressive force. The blatant disregard for international law Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama flouted, coupled with Obama's drone strikes, caused Vladimir Putin to reaccess other international agreements Russia and the Western powers were party to, namely agreements over the Crimea and Ukraine.

---

• 15 February. Benghazi uprising begins.

• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi indicted on sex charges.

• 18 February. Joint British-French military assets in place.

• 19 February. Gaddafi loyalists in Benghazi have all retreated into the Katiba fortress compound.

• 21 February. Walls of the Katiba compound are breached; local fighting ceases.

• 22 February. Stratfor reports,

STRATFOR has been hearing about plans in the works by a group of army officers planning to oust Gadhafi, move into Tripoli and reinvent a Revolutionary Command Council to take authority over the country. Now the names that are being thrown around to lead this Revolutionary Command Council include many of the original free officers that helped bring Gadhafi to power in the 1969 military coup. This group is currently lobbying for the U.N. Security Council which is currently in session to approve a no-fly zone that can be enforced by the United States. The army officers trying to lead this coup want to ensure that Gadhafi can’t rely on remaining loyal air force units to bombard them as they make their way into Tripoli. Now Gadhafi is likely betting that global concerns over energy cutoffs from Libya and fears over regime collapse in Libya leading to civil war will likely deter any such plans for a no-fly zone to be enforced by the United States. Still, the opposition, including many of these army officers, appear willing to call that bluff.

• Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, Gaddafi regime Minister of Interior openly defects from Gaddafi. Younis has worked at Gaddafi's side for 42 years since the bloodless coup of 1969 that deposed the monarchy.

• 23 February. Pakistan Observer reports:

"United States, Britain and France have sent several hundred “defence advisors” to train and support the anti-Gadhafi forces in oil-rich Eastern Libya where “rebels armed groups” have apparently taken over.

According to an exclusive report confirmed by a Libyan diplomat in the region “the three Western states have landed their “special forces troops in Cyrinacia and are now setting up their bases and training centres” to reinforce the rebel forces who are resisting pro-Qaddafi forces in several adjoining areas.

A Libyan official who requested not to be identified said that the U.S. and British military gurus were sent on February 23 and 24 night through American and French warships and small naval boats off Libyan ports of Benghazi and Tobruk.

The Western forces are reportedly preparing to set-up training bases for local militias set-up by the rebel forces for an effective control of the oil-rich region and counter any push by pro- Qaddafi forces from Tripoli .

Other reports claim that efforts to “neutralize” the Libyan Air Force were also underway to limit Qaddafi’s rule in Tripoli if not fully uprooted from the country.

Meanwhile, three Indian Navy warships, are also being dispatched to be deployed in the rebel-held areas of Libya .

According to reports the Indian Navy has already sent two warships plus one its largest amphibious vessel INS Jalashwa. According to defence experts “Jalshwa” is the largest ship of Indian Navy which was delivered by the U.S. four years ago. Jalashwa, formaly the USS Trenton, has the capability to embark, transport & land various elements of an amphibious force & its equipped with mechanised landing craft, Sea King helicopters & armed with raders, ship to air missiles & rapid firing guns.

Experts say that Indian ship Jalashwa has a Landing Platform Dock with a capability 1000 fully armed troops. The warship is also used for maritime surveillance, special operations, search & rescue and to undertake other tasks.

• Italian Foreign Minister expresses concern that the number of Libyan refugees trying to reach Italy might reach between 200,000 and 300,000 people.

• 25 February. Hillary Rodham Clinton announces suspension of Libyan embassy operations in Washington.

Hillary Clinton imagined getting rid of Gaddafi would get her elected president. Instead it brought a rape epidemic to the children and women of Europe.

• Gaddafi warns former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair by phone if his regime is allowed to fall, the jihadis would use Libya as a springboard for attacks in Europe. As Gaddafi predicted, the Islamic State took credit for the November 2015 Paris attacks killing 137, wounding 368, and the February 2016 Brussels bombing killing 35 and injuring 340.

• 26 February. UNSC 1970 passes arms embargo barring “the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer” of weapons to any party in Libya.

• Hillary Clinton directs efforts to remove all US embassy personnel from Tripoli and orders the closing of the embassy. Ken Dilanian of the Chicago Tribune reported the CIA has been on the ground in rebel-held areas of Libya since shortly after the US Embassy in Tripoli was evacuated.

• Hillary Clinton makes a series of calls to her foreign counterparts to help secure passage of UNSC 1970, imposing sanctions on Muammar Gaddafi and his family and refers Gaddafi and aides to the ICC.

• 27 February. Transitional National Council (TNC) announces in the city of Benghazi its purpose is to act as the "political face of the revolution." French President Sarkozy later quoted “We created the TNC and without France’s backing, money and weapons, it would not exist.”

• TNC spokesman made clear to reporters that the Libyan Transitional National Council was not a provisional government and added that the newly formed council was not in contact with foreign governments and did not want them to intervene.

• TNC spokesman later said that an airstrike purportedly sanctioned by the UNSC 1973 would not be considered a foreign intervention.

• Vladimir Putin later reported Russian agreement to abstain from vetoing the UNSC 1973 in private talks with Hillary Clinton in no way sanctioned NATO use of aggressive force.

• 28 February. Hillary Clinton travels to Geneva, Switzerland for consultations with European partners on Libya. She gives a major address in which she says: "It is time for Gaddafi to go." Works to secure the suspension of Libya from membership in the Human Rights Council.

• Omar Karmi of the UAE The National reports Hillary Clinton saying that the US was in contact with leaders of the uprising in Benghazi, that the US stood ready to "offer any kind of assistance," and that the US military already deployed naval and air forces into position near Libya.

March 2011

There is ample documentation by journalists, academics, and human rights groups demonstrating that Black Libyan civilians and sub-Saharan contract workers, a population favored by Gaddafi in his pro-African Union policies, were targets of “racial cleansing” by NATO-backed 'Libyan rebels' who saw Black Libyans as tied closely with the Gaddafi regime.

Many of the so-called 'Libyan rebels', or TNC, that the Obama State Dept. sold to the media and public were a diverse group of outsiders, including Sanusi Islamists, Egyptians from the Muslim Brotherhood, and jihadists from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Qatar, Afghanistan and elsewhere (jihadis' whose prime goal in life is to topple the secular regime of their homeland are always on the run seeking sanctuary somewhere). These men were led by two top defectors of the Gaddafi regime, former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdul Jalil, and former Minister of Interior (secret police) Abdul al-Fatah Younis.

Knowing Gaddafi's days were numbered due to advanced age, Jalil and Younis were seeking to preserve the power they emassed, as heads of Gaddafi's law enforcement ministries, by deposing Gaddafi prematurely using rival tribes internally and outside help from a coalition Hillary Clinton put together of jihadis and NATO. Younis, who made many enemies as Gaddafi's top cop, eventually is murdered by Islamists in the TNC.

---

• 2 March. Reports arrive by experts identifying weaponry recovered in Katiba compound. Most is 1970s-80s Soviet equipment, still effective and operational. Some equipment designs date back to World War II. Chinese equipment also is found. A Wired magazine article specifically states, "Most of the weaponry at the Katiba has been removed and handed over to the army," although the Benghazi rebels and TNC had not yet, nor ever were sufficiently organized into an "army." Wired reported, "everything had to be stripped, scrubbed, and reassembled before testing." Much anti-aircraft equipment was confiscated.

• Wired notes jihadis have recruited "4,000 people, while at a larger army base outside of Benghazi, the total volunteer force numbers around 10,000."

• 4 March. Seven commandos of a UK SAS (Special Operations Force) group and an intelligence officer are taken captive by jihadi rebels in Benghazi when they arrive unannounced to assist them. The news becomes public and is a clear violation of international law, aggressive action and boots on the ground without UNSC vote on the proposed no-fly zone. UK Def. Minister openly states the mission was part of Britain's support for regime change in Libya. The embarrassing flap is hushed up and ironed out.

• 5 March. Bernard-Henri Levy shows up in Benghazi, meets with Jilil, and by phone arranges a meeting between Sarkozy and Jilil.

• 7 March. Ben Knight, reporting from the rebel side, tells an Australian radio audience about rebel equipment: "we saw some stinger missiles today."

• 8 March. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appoints Special Envoy Chris Stevens as US liaison to jihadis in Benghazi.

• 10 March. Bernard-Henri Levy and Jalil arrive in Paris for meetings with Sarkozy; G8 foreign ministers will be arriving in a few days for conferences.

• 11 March. Canadian Globe and Mail interviews the rebel appointed security chief in Derna: “We need Stingers. We don’t need your stupid words.”

• Reuters reports ‘a large shipment of weapons and explosives and night-vision goggles … in a truck coming from Iraq’ carrying 'dozens of grenades and pistols as well as rifles and ammunition belts’ is seized at al-Waleed (known in Syria as al-Tanf) southern bordering crossing, some 400 west of Baghdad. The Syrian Government News Agency (SANA) said the weapons were intended ‘for use in actions that affect Syria’s internal security and spread unrest and chaos.’ The driver said the weapons had been loaded in Baghdad and he was to be paid $5,000 to deliver them to Syria.

• 13 March. Secretary Clinton travels to Paris for a series of meetings with foreign ministers from the Group of Eight countries. Bernard-Henri Levy is also in attendence to do introductions to the rebel group leaders. She meets with Libyan Transitional National Council leader Mahmoud Jibril and consults with other foreign counterparts on further UN Security Council action. She secretly adds that aggressive action and not just a no-fly zone will be adequate.

• 14-16 March. Sec. Clinton participates in a series of high-level video- and teleconferences. She is a leading voice for strong UNSC action in the name of a NATO "civilian protection" (R2P) mission. A majority of NATO member states refuse to participate. This was not why the NATO alliance was founded or continues to exist.

• Clinton meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov whose country's veto of UNSC 1973 could derail any planned intervention. Lavrov was intentially misled to believe that giving NATO a free hand in Libya could be had in exchange for a Russian free hand in Georgia and the Crimea.

• 15 March. Clinton speaks with Obama by phone as a “strong advocate” for U.S. intervention. Obama, who had been weighing arguments from a divided NSC for days, sides with Clinton.

• 17 March. Clinton secures a deal with Russia to abstain from vetoing UNSC Resolution 1973, supposedly granting authorization to a few NATO members “to take all necessary measures to enforce compliance with the ban on flights” and “pure no-fly zone". Only 12 of NATO's 28 members participate, changing NATOs ostensibly defensive nature, founded on the premise that an attack on one is an attack against all, to an offensive mercenary force for hire in the service of private interests and politicians' quests for approval ratings.

• The resolution passes 10-0, with Russia, China, Germany, Brazil and India abstaining. It authorizes a “pure no-fly zone."

• 18 March. Armed protesters in Daraa, Syria open fire on regime security forces. Security forces return fire. What began as a popular movement for greater freedom and democracy is over by April 2011. The continuing war is fueled and funded by outside sources, and foreign fighters entering Syria from Turkey and Northern Iraq. The fighters are principly equiped and funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, although the CIA by June 2011 is supplying jihadist elements with weapons from captured Libyan stockpiles. Airial transport originates in Benghazi and flown to Incirlik, Turkey. Sea transport originates in Derna, Libya to the Turkish port of Iskenderun, 35 miles from the Syrian border.

• 19 March. Sarkozy convenes meeting in the Westin Hotel to solicit agreement for the immediate deployment of military aircraft to stop Gaddafi's efforts to put down the rebellion in Benghazi, and the establishment of a US no-fly zone in the country.

• Before the meeting is over, French fighter planes attack Gaddafi forces outside Benghazi. Italian and Russian participants protest the French government's insistence on convening the meeting before agreeing to air strikes, and then launching strikes before the meeting was over.

• Vladimir Putin later charges Obama and cohorts "violated the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, when instead of imposing the so-called no-fly zone over it they started bombing it too."

• The early attack so upset Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who recently signed a Friendship Pact with Libya, he warned of cutting access to Italian air bases vital to French, British, and American warplanes.

The Hillary Clinton Doctrine of Smart Power: using the technical surveillance capabilities of US to blackmail foreign leaders. Hillary Clinton has been blackmailing both men and women over sexual matters, from common prostitutes her husband patronized, to victims her husband assaulted and foreign leaders involved in scandal, to advance her entire career and ambition to be the first female president. Hillary Clinton blackmailed the Italian Prime Minister to cancel Italy's non-aggression pact with Gaddafi so NATO could use Italian airbases to attack Libya.

• The Washington Post says, “It nearly broke up the coalition,” according to an eyewitness. "Yet the rift was quickly patched, thanks to a frenzied lobbying effort that kept the coalition from unraveling in its opening hours. 'That,' the source said, 'was Hillary.'... She spent hours on the phone and in person with Berlusconi."

• 29 October 2013. At a Goldman Sachs summit Hillary recounts, "Leaders who shall remain nameless, who were characterized as vain, egotistical, power hungry, corrupt. And we knew they were. This was not fiction. And I had to go and say, you know, our ambassadors, they get carried away, they want to all be literary people. They go off on tangents. What can I say. I had grown men cry. I mean, literally." Then, in a mocking Italian accent, "I am a friend of America, and you say these things about me."

• Washington Post later reports Berlusconi "eventually provided air bases as staging grounds for attacks."

• French officials claim that meeting participants were informed of the planned airstrike. The strikes clearly had been planned and coordinated with the knowledge of the United States and UK.

• That night, the first US airstrikes halt the advance of Gaddafi's forces on Benghazi and target Libya's air defenses. Members of Libya's Christian Coptic community are later decapitated en masse once Secretary Clinton and President Obama's objectives are met.

• 20 March. NATO's Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, days before President Obama publicly disclosed his decision to intervene, that US the intelligence community knew of al Qaeda and Hezbollah elements among the rebels.

• In Syria, Ba'ath party headquarters burnt down.

• 21 March. Obama announces US forces commenced operations in Libya two days earlier, on March 19, "to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe."

• Sec. Robert Gates warned establishment of a no-fly zone meant attacking Libya.

• National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough oppose attacking Libya; but Hillary Clinton "won the bureaucratic battle to use Department of Defense resources to achieve what's essentially the State Department's objective... and Obama let it happen". It is rare for a president to publicly go against the advice of his National Security Adivisor in a decision on military intervention, nonetheless Tom Donilon did not resign.

President Obama armed al-Qaeda rebels who later migrated to Syria to form the Islamic State.(Photo:Reuters).

• United Nations Charter, Article 2(4), prohibits the “threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence” of a member state, and many observers object that Obama's actions violate this prohibition.

• Congressional Research Services advises that a no-fly zone imposed against a state that has not carried out an attack on its neighbors may consider the imposition an “armed attack.” CRS warns that even if a no-fly zone does not constitute an armed attack, "that state, and other members of the international community, might consider them a violation of the prohibition of the 'threat or use of force,' as well as of the customary duty of non-intervention in the affairs of other sovereign states."

• 22 March. Stravidis email to David Manners, business partner of Marc Turi, former congressional staffer to Sen. John McCain until February 2011 regarding illegal weapons supply to the TNC per a State Department authorization.

• 23 March. UK Air Vice Marshal declares air superiority: the Libyan Air Force “no longer exists as a fighting force.” NATO controls the skies.

• Syrian government seizes weapons stored at Al-Omari mosque in the city of Daraa. Daily Mail reports "'an armed gang' of 'peaceful protesters' opened fire on an ambulance, killing 'a doctor, a paramedic and a policeman'".

• Video of Berlusconi 'bunga bunga party' hits American cable news.

• 24 March. Clinton engages with Sarkozy, Cameron, and others to secure the transition of command and control of the "civilian protection mission" to NATO.

• Clinton announces the transition in a statement.

• Canada-based sociologist Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya later observed, "NATO is an undemocratic body and is not answerable to any constituency of voters. It is through NATO and international organizations that the voting public is being bypassed. The command of the war against Libya has deliberately been reassigned from the Pentagon to NATO as a clever means to bypass public scrutiny and accountability by the U.S. government and all other governments involved in this war."

• 26 March. A report from Rep. Dennis Kucinich corroborates the claim of Franco Bechis in Italy that "plans to spark the Benghazi rebellion were initiated by French intelligence services in November 2010."

• A blogger in Latakia, Syria, a majority Alewite/Shia port city in northern Syria, posts there is the "presence of foreign armed elements...The situation in Lattaka is terrible, [on March 26] five people got killed, and there were snipers who shot at the people from buildings...It looks as if certain groups there want to stir up a sectarian conflict to make people afraid and to become more powerful themselves,..." evidence the Syrian uprising was planned by professionals who brought in snipers that killed people from both sides: regime supporters and Sunni protesters to create blind hatred and anger.

• 27 March. An intelligence brief sent to Hillary by Sidney Blumenthal contains clear evidence of war crimes on the part of US-backed rebels. Citing a rebel commander source “speaking in strict confidence” Blumenthal reports:

Under attack from allied Air and Naval forces, the Libyan Army troops have begun to desert to the rebel side in increasing numbers. The rebels are making an effort to greet these troops as fellow Libyans, in an effort to encourage additional defections.
(Source Comment: Speaking in strict confidence, one rebel commander stated that his troops continue to summarily execute all foreign mercenaries captured in the fighting…).

• Extra-judicial killings are conventionally called “death squads."

• 28 March. AP reports Turkey takes over running the Benghazi airport. This is the beginning of a direct flightline to Adana, Turkey where captured Gaddadi regime weapons are delivered to AQI/ISI jihadis, for the purpose of overthrowing the Assad regime. The group eventually evolves into the Islamic State.

• 29 March. Clinton travels to London for a conference on Libya, where Clinton is a driving force behind the creation of a Contact Group comprising 20-plus countries to coordinate efforts to "protect civilians" and plan for a post-Gaddafi Libya. She is instrumental in setting up a rotating chair system to ensure regional buy-in.

• Russia and China accuse US of exceeding UNSC 1973 mandate.

• 18-30 March. Hillary Clinton engages with UAE, Qatar, and Jordan to seek their participation in coalition operations. Over the course of several days, all three devote aircraft to the mission.

• 31 March. Reuters reports "President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi...Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks"

• Another Reuters article notes Obama had CiA personal on the ground before signing the finding, and the Adm. Mike Mullen figured there were only about 1,000 rebels in number.

• March and April. According to the US State Dept., the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for 23 attacks south of Baghdad, all allegedly carried out under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's command.

• Spring. Obama intel officials capture and record private communications between Rep. Kucinich, and a Libyan official.

April 2011

File:0012760114.png

Circulated on #Libya in social media after the Americans left to focus on Syria: “#Derna and the future of her children.” The jihadis in Derna were trained by Americans on Barack Hussein Obama's orders.

• 2 April. Wall Street Journal reports on Americans' training terrorists in the port city of Derna; when the Americans left to concentrate on the Syrian operation, terrorists beheaded people in front of small children as part of their training and 21 Christians were beheaded enmasse.

• Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) is centered around Derna and Benghazi. The Sinjar documents reveal 20% of all Iraq insurgents came from Derna, Sirte, and Misurata, 82% of which volunteered for suicide attacks.

• 4 April. Reuters reports al Qaeda in the Maghreb in possession of SAM-7s, a Soviet version of the Stinger missile.

• 7 April. Gen. Carter Ham, head of US Africa Command, tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that “we do estimate that there were as many as 20,000 [shoulder fired Stinger missiles capable of taking down a commercial airliner] in Libya before the conflict began.”

• 14 April. According to a Hillary staff email, Sec. of State Clinton travels to Berlin for NATO meetings. Clinton is the driving force behind NATO adopting a communiqué that calls for Gaddafi's departure as a political objective, and lays out three clear military objectives: (1) end of attacks and threat of attacks on civilians; (2) the removal of Gaddafi forces; (3) [redacted from original]. Germans refuse to go along.

• 15 April. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Berlin conference accuses Obama administration of exceeding UNSC 1973 mandate and the agreements at the Paris summit. What started out as a mission to “protect civilians and enforce a no-fly zone,” has transformed into an effort at "regime change" without having a clear understanding as to the nature of the rebel opposition.

• 22 April. Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq, later ISIS] supported by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, are infiltrated into the southwest Syrian border town of Daraa, a town of 150,000 inhabitants. Western media previously claimed 300,000 protesters were in the streets. 20 Syrian government soldiers are ambushed and beheaded. These are the first known instances of what would become the US-backed Salafi-jihadi's trademark use of terrorism. Government troops are lured into the town after rooftop snipers begin shooting at police during a civil demonstration. 90 people are killed in the days fighting. This marks the end of civil opposition to the regime. For the next half decade, Syria's "Civil War," as it is referred to in Western media, is a war between the Syrian Army and foreign jihadists backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the Gulf states.

May 2011

• 5 May. Sec. Hillary Clinton travels to Rome for a Contact Group meeting. The Contact Group establishes a coordination system and a temporary financial mechanism to funnel money to the National Transitional Council.

• 20 May. Washington Post reports Obama ignored the legal deadline set in the 1973 law that required him to obtain Congressional approval for U.S. military operations in Libya. Under the Nixon-era War Powers Resolution, the president must obtain Congressional authorization of military action within 60 days, or else begin withdrawing forces.

June 2011

• 6 June. Jisr ash-Shugur massacre in Syria. 120 Syrian regime personnel are executed by US-backed "unarmed peaceful opposition protesters," according to Western media accounts. Many are beheaded and their bodies thrown from a bridge into the Orontes river. The atrocity is videotaped and uploaded to YouTube, later censored by Western cyberwarfare information specialists.

• 8 June. Sec. of State Clinton travels to Abu Dhabi for another Contact Group meeting and holds a series of intense discussions with jihadi and rebel leaders.

• 12 June. Clinton travels to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for consultations and a speech before the African Union, pressing the case for a "democratic transition" in Libya.

• 30 June. Def. Sec. Robert Gates resigns. Leon Panetta moves over from CIA Director as replacement. Michael Morell becomes acting CIA Director.

• Late June. Clinton meets with House Democrats and Senate Republicans to persuade them not to de-fund the Libya operation.

July 2011

• 3 July. Turkey gives more aid to TNC to refurbish Benghazi airport.

• 12 July. Obama administration targets' Iraqis with new visa and background checks after terrorists residing in Bowling Green, Kentucky were discovered.

• 15 July. Hillary Clinton travels to Istanbul and announces that the US recognizes the Transitional National Council as the legitimate government of Libya. She also secures recognition of the TNC from the other members of the Contact Group.

• 17 July. Alexandra Valiente, living in Tripoli, writes:

The Coalition of the Willing had come to Libya to spare civilians from Gaddafi’s murderous madness. Four months later, the Libyan crowds have deserted “Liberated Benghazi” and are staging gigantic anti-NATO demonstrations. ... at present, the Libyan people are convinced that such a crackdown never took place and that the Libyan air force never attacked any residential area either in Benghazi or in Tripoli. That portion of the population who believed at first the information relayed through international television networks now thinks very differently. In the meantime, people have had the chance to obtain direct testimonies from family and friends scattered throughout the country and have reached the conclusion that it was all a disinformation campaign....
The National Transitional Council (TNC) has been incapable of constituting a social base. Its provisional capital Benghazi used to be a city of 800 000 inhabitants. In February, hundreds of thousands turned out to celebrate its creation. Today, the “city liberated by the rebels” and “protected by NATO” is virtually a lifeless agglomeration with barely 15 000 inhabitants left, most of whom are people who don’t have the means to leave. The Benghazis did not flee the fighting; they fled from the new regime.
...according to most experts, the number of “rebel forces” has dropped to between 800 and 1 000 combatants, armed to the teeth by NATO, but incapable of playing a significant role in the absence of popular support. It is very likely that there are more NATO Special Forces commandos on the ground than the number of Libyan combatants they are supposed to oversee.

• 18 July. Clinton sends Sec. of State for the Near East Jeffrey Feltman, U.S. ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, and a senior director at the National Security Council Derek Chollet, to meet with Gaddafi envoys in Tunis "to deliver a clear and firm message that the only way to move forward, is for Gaddafi to step down". Libyan representatives are confused as to thinking the US had been an ally in fighting the radical Islamic jihadis the Obama administration now was supporting to overthrow Gaddafi.

• Former Clinton administration State Dept. Spokesman Jamie Rubin, husband of CNN’s Christiane Amanpour emails Hillary:

Again, congratulations are in order...It is a pleasure to see the State Department again leading the administration on this. Syria, too......the White House doesn’t seem like it cares very much. In general, the NSC seems uncomfortable with creative applications of American power and influence. And we all know the military and the Pentagon resist limited military operations, especially airpower-only engagements. So, it must be you and your colleagues at State. Well done. . . . even a small success like the one that is coming in Libya will turn around the steady decline in American influence in the region and around the world. I suspect that you know this, but European elites, Gulf elites, East Europeans and many others regard the Administration as weak.

• 28 July. Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis assassinated by Islamist members of the TNC.

August 2011

It is clear in reading Hillary Clinton's emails that, in the glow of the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Hillary embraced the call to spike the football and clearly was planning to use Libya as evidence of her leadership and skill that qualified her to become President.

The attack on US diplomats and CIA officers in Benghazi on 11 September 2012 however, destroyed that dream. The dream became a nightmare and Hillary scrambled to pretend that she was not the mover-and-shaker that destabilized Libya and made it a safe haven for ISIS, uncorking the bottle for the European migrant crisis.

---

• Early August. Hillary Clinton works to construct a $1.5 billion assets package to be approved by the UNSC and sent to the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC). That package is working through its last hurdles.

• After military chief Abdel Fattah Younes is killed, Hillary's office sends a personal message to TNC head Jalil to press for a responsible investigation and a careful and inclusive approach to creating a new executive council.

• Early August. Clinton secures written pledges from the TNC to a supposed "pluralistic democratic transition". Clinton continues to consult with European and Arab colleagues on the evolving situation.

• 21 August. Jihadis enter Tripoli.

• 22 August. Sidney Blumenthal emails Hillary:

First, brava! This is a historic moment and you will be credited for realizing it. When Qaddafi himself is finally removed, you should of course make a public statement before the cameras wherever you are, even in the driveway of your vacation house. You must go on camera. You must establish yourself in the historical record at this moment. The most important phrase is: ‘successful strategy.’

Just a few points:

• The US has pursued a successful strategy in Libya... This was the right course, based on our interests and principles...

• Do not skimp on the reasons in the US interest...The US has demonstrated its principled belief in the rule of law and acted on...By acting in Libya we have helped advance the cause of democracy and freedom...We have put Assad on notice that the sands of time have run out for him as well. Our successful strategy in Libya stands as a warning that our strategy will work again. Etc.

• Be aware that some may attempt to justify the flamingly stupid ‘leading from behind’ phrase, junior types on the NSC imagining their cleverness. To refute this passive construction on US policy and help remove it as an albatross from the administration as it enters the election year, do not be defensive but rather simply explain that the US had a clear strategy from the start, stuck with it and has succeeded.

• Then you can say whatever on future policy — but only after asserting the historic success and explaining the reasons why.

• This is a very big moment historically and for you. History will tell your part in it. You are vindicated. But don’t wait, help Clio now.” (Blumenthal’s reference to “Clio” is to the Greek muse of history.)

• Jake Sullivan writes "Secretary Clinton's leadership on Libya" memorandum:

[Secretary Clinton] has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings — as well as the public face of the U.S. effort in Libya. She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime.

• 26 August. Sharia law enshrined in TNC draft Constitution.

• 29 August. CBS News reports the indiscriminate killing of black people by US backed "Libyan rebels".

September 2011

• 3 September. Hillary Clinton directs Jake Sullivan and her staff to document the case of Hillary’s “brilliance” in providing leadership for the destabilization of Libya.

• 6 September. David Petraeus become CIA Director, relieving Michael Morell as acting Director. Morell is immediately hired by David Rhodes, brother of Obama NSC staffer Ben Rhodes as CBS News National Security expert to spin Obama administration talking points.

• 7 September. bloomberg.com/news publishes:

Hillary Clinton Deserves Credit for U.S. Role in Libya:

View By the Editors –

The unsung hero of the Libya drama in the U.S. is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s actions were critical for several reasons. Most important, she overcame Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s caution about using military force in Libya and his reluctance to support an operation led by France and Britain. ...

Despite the unusual arrangement in which the U.S. was a supporter rather than a leader of NATO’s military operation, she defended intervention before a skeptical Congress and performed the hard slog of daily diplomacy ...

...the decision to support NATO military action in Libya is probably the Obama administration’s most important achievement in international affairs. Although ... the country is a long way from having a stable, representative government...

History will surely judge that, by intervening on the side of the rebellion, the West — primarily the governments of France, the U.K. and the U.S. — made a unique and invaluable contribution ... That said, the Obama administration’s decision-making process remains opaque. ...

...by breaking with Gates, Clinton tipped the balance within the administration in favor of action. Without her strong argument ... Washington probably would not have acted. The president’s national security adviser, Tom Donilon, was declaring freedom in Libya to be outside the U.S. national interest, and both military and civilian officials in the Pentagon were reluctant to endorse or even opposed U.S. intervention. But Clinton’s push... appears to have been decisive.

...Congress not only opposed sending in ground troops but mostly opposed any U.S. involvement. Obama wisely resisted.

“For better or worse, the Libya model is not likely to be repeated anytime soon. This is not, as some say, because NATO will never again intervene in a situation like Libya’s. After the Kosovo war, many also said NATO would never again act against a dictator to save lives.

...Think about the conditions: ... a rebel army on the ground sought democratic change and espoused Western values; the UN at least loosely endorsed NATO air operations; ...Given those circumstances, it is still hard to explain why there were determined opponents, primarily in the Republican Party, to this mission in the first place.

Throughout most of Obama’s term in office, only a few administration officials have commanded respect and political power on national security matters: Clinton, Gates and General David Petraeus, the most decorated and admired officer of recent times. With Gates now gone and Petraeus in a non-policy role as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Clinton’s power will only increase as the president’s re-election campaign heats up. We hope she recognizes her opportunity and uses it well.

• 10 September. Blumenthal emails Hillary, "Per our conversation. Jamie [Rubin] writes editorial... Sid", and includes text of Rubin's Bloomberg editorial.

• 12 September. Reporting on eight hundred SAM-7 shoulder-fired missiles in the hands of Boko Haram from Gaddafi arsenals, David Ignatius of the Washington Post claims a

"former CIA officer wrote his FBI friend that the Niger contacts “have determined locally that the [United States government] doesn’t want to help them” chase down the missiles. “I suspect [the Near East division of CIA] squashed this by their normal bureaucratic warfare,” he speculated.

• 27 September. Brian Ross of ABC News in a report on Libya's 20,000 unaccounted for SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles (Soviet-era manufactured versions of the US Stinger missile capable of shooting down military or commercial aircraft within a distance of two miles):

"the U.S. State Department has one official on the ground in Libya, as well as five contractors who specialize in 'explosive ordinance disposal', all working with the rebel Transitional National Council to find the looted missiles."

• 28 September. According to David Ignatius's reporting,

[A] frustrated ex-CIA officer wrote a U.S. military contact: “The missiles are in the hands of al-Qaeda and being distributed. I would really like to know who in the agency was the roadblock and why.”

October 2011

• 3 October. Obama administration secretly changes longstanding policy. The change creates a “loophole” that Sen. Ron Wyden of the Intelligence Committee later says allows the NSA to conduct “backdoor searches” or “incidental collection” of US citizens’ domestic communications.

• 4 October. In an internal email, Attn. Gen. Eric Holder’s top press aide Tracy Schmaler emails White House operative Eric Schultz calling CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson “out of control."

• 20 October. Gaddafi brutally executed.

• 26 October. Qatar takes credit for sending hundreds of troops into Libya to provide training, communications and strategy. Qatar "acted as the link between the rebels and Nato forces." Guardian adds,

Some, however, express concern at the emirate's support for Islamist elements such as the 17 February Martyrs Brigade, one of the most influential rebel formations, led by Abdel-Hakim Belhaj.

• After Gaddafi shut down Libya’s Internet system in early March, Qatar had given the revolutionaries access to its satellites.

November 2011

• 27 November. Telegraph reports that the new Libyan authorities offered money and weapons to the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad.

[Abdulhakim Belhadj] also discussed sending Libyan fighters to train troops, the source said. Having ousted one dictator, triumphant young men, still filled with revolutionary fervour, are keen to topple the next. The commanders of armed gangs still roaming Tripoli's streets said yesterday that "hundreds" of fighters wanted to wage war against the Assad regime.
"Everyone wants to go. We have liberated our country, now we should help others," said the commander of the 'Fighting Village' brigade, "This is freedom. This is Arab unity".
Increasing volumes of video footage have been uploaded to YouTube of Syrians calling on Libyans to join their fight. In a clip backed by dramatic musical effects, a veiled Syrian woman entreats men from Misurata, the west Libyan city that fought off a month-long siege by forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi, to come to save her country."

December 2011

• 7 December. Special Operations Forces from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey are already on the ground in Syria training opposition forces and ready to act within 2–3 months.
• December. David Ignatius of the Washington Post claims an ex-CIA's officer's attempt to track eight hundred shoulder-fired SAM-7s in the hands of Boko Haram hit a “speed bump” at the CIA, apparently blocking communication.

Results

al-Qaeda is stronger in Yemen with control on some cities. In 2015 Shia Houthi-rebels took control over parts of Yemen. In Libya the Benghazi Attack occurred and the new government introduced Sharia law. Since 2011 the Syrian Civil War (mainly a mercenary war) takes place, where an Islamist opposition fights against the secular government of President Bashar al-Assad. There are also some fights between Sunnis and Shias.

The policies of US President Barack Hussein Obama with regard to the Arab Spring seemed to be in the interest of Muslim theocracy, unlike previous American Presidents who have favored governments which are secular and pro-Israel.

See also

• Barack Obama's Muslim Heritage
• Occupy Wall Street
• Neo-conservativism